Dr. Stacy Sims

As far as protection as we age, it's directly correlative to the amount of muscle that we have.

And if you have something like PCOS or endometriosis, it's even more important for you because building muscle is going to fight insulin resistance and inflammation.

Because most of it is based on male data.

And I see a large number of women trying their hardest to be healthy.

But what they are choosing to do is actually having a negative impact on their hormonal health.

And it's not your fault.

And this is where we have to educate.

And it starts now.

Yeah, our hormones distinctly control a lot of our environment and our other cells that are not what we think of as our hormone cells work with our hormones.

So if we think about the gut, we think about the liver, our immune system, a lot of this is so hormonally derived, but it's a two-way street, meaning your hormones influence what is happening in your gut, but your gut influences what is happening in your hormones.

And because women have different hormones than men,

as far as what's predominant and when they are, we have to come at this and approach it a different way.

I think it's important that, you know, building muscle, using muscle consistency is a huge part of effectiveness when it comes to exercise or to building strength.

And so one fear we have when we say do this in one phase of your cycle and do that in another phase is that if, you know, 15% of patients are not ovulating or they have no idea when their follicular and luteal phases are, are they then doing overall less because they're waiting on this directive to tell them what?

What is not untrue, though, and how I frame this to patients is that strength and resistance training should be the core of what you're doing, regardless of the phase of the cycle you're in, regardless if you're pregnant, regardless if we're doing fertility treatments, building muscle, using your muscle.

Now, what you do on other days is where you should allow yourself to say, how do I feel this day?

What do I need this day?

And be OK with giving yourself the grace that that may look different.

on your period, in your follicular phase, in your luteal phase, and saying doing something and moving your body is still ultimately, we're all going to agree, better than sitting on the couch.

Many women will say they have more energy in that late follicular phase.